Neighborly Wall

Harkening back to my brief exposure to poetry at a young age, my favorite poet was/is, like most New Englanders, Robert Frost. Whether it’s a road not taken or stopping by woods on a snowy eve, he was able to capture some quintessential New England traditions and perspectives. I don’t want you to worry that I’m going all literary on you. Other than some fairly ribald ditties and the origin poem for the title of this blog, poetry doesn’t constitute a preeminent position in my life. So why go to all this effort, bringing up the childhood memories? It’s simple, I was trying to latch on to the subject I am writing about today which involved walls and neighbors and for some reason ole Roberto the Frost leaped to the mind with Mending Walls. He sated good fences made good neighbors, which of course can be taken several ways.

Yesterday's Progress

In this case, it deals with volunteering to build a garden retaining wall for our next-door neighbor. I say “volunteer” but one of the first things I learned in the Army was, never volunteer. That was after the whole volunteering to join the Army in the first place, but I digress. I was in fact volunteered for this project by my Favorite Panamanian. The neighbor had always told her how much she admired the garden terraces I built in our back yard to house (partially) my wife’s vast garden complex. My neighbor is older and her husband cannot physically do the work himself so she asked my wife if I would do one for them.

Anyone who knows my Favorite Panamanian knows what her answer to that query was. When I was first advised of this project I was a little miffed because the promise was made without consultation and I’m not exactly the proverbial spring chicken anymore either. I grudgingly agreed to it and yesterday was the first day. It turns out my wife is really on to something with all this doing good deeds behavior. I enjoyed doing the physical work and my neighbor stayed with me the whole time and I got to know him a lot better. I actually felt better for having done it. You see, there the spouse goes again, trying to make me a better person. Frost knew what he was talking about in Mending Walls.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn